Bathroom stalls seem to be the best place to hang posters at the University.

Faith DeNardo, Director of the Wellness Connection at the University has gotten a large number of people joining classes like PHHS 4400, which is a requirement to become a peer educator through the Wellness Connection, via Stall Talk.

Stall Talk is a single sheet newsletter, dedicated in whole to health and wellness, taped to stalls around the University.

“That’s how we got many of our peer educators,” she said.

DeNardo said the newsletter ranks favorably in responses to questions of how students found out about events happening on campus.

“That is why we carry on the practice; it has been so successful,” she said.

The publication, in its eighteenth volume, is posted in the bathroom stalls of campus housing. The newsletter is a source of information gathered by the Wellness Connection.

“It’s a way to communicate tidbits of important information in a way that – you have little else to do, so you just read (the newsletter),” she said.

Content for each edition of Stall Talk varies depending on submissions made to the Wellness Connection. Editions might talk about awareness, such as alcohol awareness. Other editions might use a more free-form topic like Spring Break Safety.

Not all content is created by the Wellness Connection. A large portion of the publication is used for events and organizations looking to attract attention.

The newest edition – October’s second printing – contains information about intramural leagues, a Zumba dance party, lifeguard training and the flu shot clinic.

Details about submissions, as well as the submission form, can be found at www.bgsu.edu/recwell/wellness-connection/stalltalk.html.

Content created by the Wellness Connection focuses more on health tidbits. The same October issue, for example, lists the components of consent.

On average Stall Talk has three people working on content and one or two people delivering the final product. All of the work is done in house. Staff members work on content while student interns at the Wellness Connection work on the design of the final piece, though DeNardo said it is not uncommon for students to have a hand in content production.

From beginning to end, DeNardo estimates a week of work is put into each issue.

The newsletter pre-dates DeNardo’s nine years of service at the University. The publication started as a joint effort between the Wellness Connection and the Student Health Service. In January 2009, the Wellness Connection split from Student Health Services and became part of the Department of Recreation and Wellness. The Wellness Connection retained the publication.

The idea is not unique to the University. Several other campuses use the idea, in the same way, to get information to the students.

Stall Talk is one of the several ways the University uses to communicate ideas. DeNardo credits it as a source that holds more attention. Other mediums like the campus TVs, and even other places to post fliers, contain too many other sources of information.

“Even though most of our lives are digital, (Stall Talk) is a great way to get information out to students,” she said.

The content of the newsletter varies from month to month, as does the number of times it is published.

Months that bookend the school year usually gets just one publishing due to time constraints. Middle of the year months might end up with two.